Jun 4, 2009

Free is just another word for not getting paid

The Glenwood Springs Post Independent is the latest media outlet to figure out a way to convince people to willingly work for free - call them volunteers and then publicize their good deeds. (via Romenesko)

Working for free is not necessarily a bad thing. A paying job offers money, and that's fine, but working also gives folks a sense of purpose, so does volunteering. So if this helps people feel valuable again, then for the short term anyway everyone wins. Long term? If they don't need the money, more power to em.

People are free to work for free if they so choose. But a company that makes money off a person working for free - and then promotes it - deserves some ridicule. Further, this industry is seeing wages driven down and jobs lost, so it seems appropriate to raise flags when management decides to undercut job security even further with "volunteer" labor.

You are correct that it would raise flags if management decided to "undercut job security" with volunteers--if the volunteers had a gun to their heads. If the volunteers were being forced into it.Some people may see a higher calling, the call of journalism, helping a newspaper get its product out. Might even be a newspaper they love.